The Yellow & Blue win a tight clash in Spain to improve their EuroLeague record to 17:8 as Wilbekin (20 points), and Dorsey (19 points) led the way to victory. Thursday: Olympiacos Piraeus arrives to Tel Aviv
Two weeks after Othello Hunter’s winner layup in Istanbul, Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv returned on Friday night to EuroLeague action as they rallied back from a 13 point deficit in the third quarter to grab a significant 85:82 road win over Valencia at “La Fonteta”. Scottie Wilbekin led all scorers with 20 points knocking in 6 three-pointers as Tyler Dorsey, who ended the night with a couple of clutch shots from deep, scored 19 points while adding 5 assists. On Thursday, the 17:8 Maccabi will host the 9th place Olympiacos Piraeus in Menorah Mivtachim Arena.
Scottie Wilbekin, Elijah Bryant, Angelo Caloiaro, Jake Cohen, and Othello Hunter opened in Giannis Sfairopoulos’s starting five. Elijah Bryant led the visitors to a fast start scoring 6 of Maccabi’s first 8 points, 8:0. After 3 minutes without allowing a basket, Alberto Abalde hit Valencia’s first shot of the night as Caloiaro and Deni Avdija each added a three on the other end, which gave the Yellow & Blue a double-digit lead, 16:6. Valencia slowly got into a rhythm, closing quarter number 1 with a 13:2 run that granted the Oranges their first lead of the night, 18:19.
Dorsey and Bryant hit consecutive triples for Maccabi to give them the edge, but the hosts went on another 13:2 on its way to a 26:32 advantage. A Wilbekin three stopped the Spanish’s squad momentum as the visitors cut the lead in half, 33:36. However, Fernando San Emeterio sank a basket at the buzzer that awarded Valencia a 5 point advantage heading into halftime, 33:38.
The second half began similarly to the end of the first half, the Oranges kept on shooting in high percentages that gave them a 35:48 lead. A pair of free throws by Hunter and two Wilbekin three’s reduced the hosts lead down to 7, though Valencia managed to keep a double-digit advantage thanks to Bojan Dubljevic, 45:55. Like numerous moments this season, Wilbekin put Maccabi on his shoulders, punishing the Spanish squad from deep, which brought the Yellow & Blue within striking distance, 55:57. An Avdija thee pointer trimmed the lead down to one, but a Quino Colom basket gave Valencia some breathing room going into the final 10 minutes, 58:61.
Maccabi retook the lead after scoring 5 consecutive points to start the fourth, 65:63. Dorsey hit two from the line, and Hunter slammed it home off of a miss, which maintained the Yellow & Blue advantage midway through the period, 71:68. Valencia kept on grinding as Dubljevic scored 6 of the team’s 9 points in the final minutes that restored a 75:77 lead for the home side. With less than two minutes to the final buzzer, Wilbekin and Dorsey answered on the other end with three triples that sealed the deal on its way to an 85:82 victory.
